Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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SCOTTISH MUSIC SCOTTISH MUSIC 397
annoy her Covenanting husband, the Earl of
Cassillis, who was unpopular. [It is especially
interesting to trace the course of the story
' and elsewhere. The story
of Lady Cassillis' flight with a gipsy as it
appears in the English ballad, The Wraggle-
'
Tagglo Gipsies oh
may have suggested Browning's Flight of the
Dicchess.^
Those who wish to know more of these relics of
an enthusiastic time will find in the volumes of
James Hogg and Dr. Charles Mackay all that
is worthy of being remembered of this episode
of Scottish song.
Of the Scottish Scales.
The existence of Scottish airs constructed on
the series 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 of a major diatonic scale
is well known and has been already alluded to.
Whether this pentatonio series was acquired
through the use of a defective instrument, or
from the melodic taste of singer or player, must
remain mere matter of conjecture. The style
itself may be accepted as undoubtedly ancient,
whatever uncertainty there may be as to the
exact age of the airs constructed on it. These
are not by any means numerous, though their
characteristic leap between the third and fifth,
and sixth and eighth of the scale, is so common
in Scottish melody, that many persons not only
believe the greater part of our airs to be pentatonio,
but do notadmit any others to be Scottish.
However, the taste for this style may have arisen,
the series of notes was ». very convenient one ;
for an instmment possessing the major diatonic
scale in one key only, could play these airs
correctly in the three positions of the scale where
major thirds are found, that is, on the first,
fourth, and fifth degrees. In the key of C, these
are as shown below, adding the octave to the
lowest note of the series in each case.
Peniatonic scale in three positions, without change
rt 123. Bfl a 123B8 » 1 Z S, S 6 m_
If, reversing the order of the notes given
above, we begin with the sixth, and passing
downwards add the octave below, the feeling of
a minor key is established, and keys of A, D,
and E minor seem to be produced. Besides
tunes in these six keys, a few others will be
found, which begin and end in G minor (signature
two flats), though also played with natural notes
for B and E being avoided in the melody neither
of the flats is required.
A curious peculiarity of tunes written in this
series is, that from the proximity of the second
and third positions phrases move up and down
from one into the other, thus appearing to be
alternately in the adjoining keys a full tone
apart, moving for example from G into F and
vice versa. The following are good examples
of the style :
(1) aala Water.
^^^^^^^
;^^±BE^
:f^s^a^pi
(2) Were na my heart licht I wad die.
^g^^gs^
^^^^^^^^^^
(3) The bridegroom grat.
^^^^^^^^m
Wben fheBheepareintheiauld&the kye at hame, And
^j^^ST^-J^^ESi
^^^^^^^^
a' the world to sleep are gane,The 'waeBo'my heart fo>' in
Bhow'rB frae my e'e, While my gudeman lies sound by ma
The' first, 'Gala Water,' is one of the most
beautiful of our melodies. The modern version
of it contains the seventh of the scale more than
once, but Oswald has preserved the old pentatonic
version in his Caledonian Pocket Companion
(1759-66). That version is here given in the
large type, the small type showing the modern
alterations. The air may be played, correctly
beginning on E, on A, or on B, representing the
third of the keys of C, F, and G ; but neither flat
nor sharp is required in any of the positions, the
notes being all natural throughout.
The second is the melody to which Lady Grizel
Baillie wrote (1692) her beautiful ballad, Were
'
na my heart licht, I wad die.' It is a very
simple, unpretending tune, and is given chiefly
on account of its close ; indeed, both of these
tunes are peculiar, and worth more detailed
discussion than can be given them here.
The third is the old tune which was so great
a favourite with Lady Anne Lyndsay that she
wrote for it her celebrated ballad Auld Eobin
'
Gray.' Although it has been superseded by a
very beautiful modern English air, it ought not
to be entirely forgotten.
Another exceedingly beautiful pentatonio
melody is that to which Burns wrote meikle
'
thinks my love o' my beauty. ' It will be found in
E minor in the ' Select Songs of Scotland, ' by Sir
G. A. Macfarren ; but it may also be played in
D minor and A minor, in each case without